New to message boards, but not diabetes

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CathyandLucy

CathyandLucy

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Hi,

My name is Cathy and I have a 16 year old transient diabetic cat named Lucy. She's now in her third episode of having active diabetes.

I am also in a strange position in that I work in the marketing department for the American Animal Hospital Association. So as I've told my vet I "know enough to be dangerous"!

Anyway, Lucy's blood glucose is coming down but she is still drinking and peeing a lot! I haven't seen that happen before. The last midpoint reading I did was 87, so I didn't give her a second shot that day and her vet has changed her Lantus dosing to one unit once a day.

Any thoughts on why she might be continuing to drink and pee so much?

Thanks,
Cathy
 
Hi Cathy,

Glad you know enough to be dangerous, my vet says that about me too :lol:

Did you get Lucy checked for anything else, Hyperthyroid, Kidney issues? Any illness can cause the diabetes to return, stress induced diabetes, so perhaps the FD is not the issue but something else. How are her teeth, sometimes a bad tooth will cause FD to return.
 
Hi,

Thanks for your reply. When her diabetes returned I took her in her an exam and nothing else was out of the ordinary. We didn't run a full blood work up since she had one a few months ago.

Sometimes I think she is drinking/peeing less but then I usually change my mind.

PS - Tuckers Mom - Wow, you're from Milford!I'm originally from Hamden but live in Denver now.
 
Hamden is a beautiful area. Denver must be so different than New England :)

Ask the vet what the T4 value was, with older cats, if the thyroid level is on the high end of normal, we still consider that hyperthyroid.
 
You said that her vet has changed her Lantus dosing to once a day. This could b part of her problem as the inulin only lasts 12 hours and so she is without insulin for 12 hours and probably going high thus peeing. Perhaps you could try splitting her dose in 2 ie .5 unit BID and see if that helps.
 
I think we cut her dose down too fast (based on previous reactions). I just tested her a couple of hours ago and it was 530 - yikes! A huge jump from Saturday's 87.

Believe it or not I am going out of town for a work-related veterinary conference tomorrow. Bad timing indeed! My cat sitter can give her the shots but with the numbers so out of control I'm worried. Luckily I'll be back Sunday night instead of my usual 5-6 day trips.
 
I would definitely consider going to 0.5u twice a day rather than 1u once a day. Lantus works by building a depot of crystals (what we in the lantus forum refer to as the "shed") under the skin. Basically, picture a shed in the backyard where Lucy keeps her insulin storage. For Lantus to work it's best, the shed has to be full of insulin. So with each shot, a portion goes to the shed, and a portion goes to immediately controlling BG numbers. It generally takes 5-7 days for the shed to be full, so that each dose can then just go towards a little top off of the shed, but the bulk of it goes towards controlling BG#s.

Once a day dosing really messes with the shed. Lucy is metabolizing her insulin dose every 12 hours. So, you give a shot in the morning, she takes what she needs out to the shed, and then uses the rest to bring her numbers down. But then, 12 hours later, her body needs more insulin, but she doesn't get a shot, so instead she goes to the shed and takes some out of there, which helps a little, but not as much as a shot would. But now, when you shoot the next morning, an even bigger chunk is going to the shed to refill what she had to use the night before, and within days, you're shooting insulin that is doing nothing, because it is all going to the shed, which is getting immediately depleted the following cycle.

I'd encourage you to head over to our Lantus Forum. We have several instructional stickies that contain a wealth of information about how lantus best works, how to handle it, etc. Most of us over there follow a version of a published protocol that has proven very successful in keeping cats in numbers as close to normal as possible, and in helping cats achieve remission. If you have questions specific to Lantus, please feel free to stop by! You'll find that folks there are extremely kind and are very willing to help you get Lucy into the best possible health as quickly as possible!
 
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